Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles Interview

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Lead designer Matt Norton gives us the first look at a new download only, giant fighting robot game.

By IGN Staff

Most gamers love the idea of gigantic battling robots. It's become a convention -- Mechwarrior, Heavy Gear, and Starsiege are just three of the most prominent titles in a very popular genre. Now Monolith is moving into the arena with the brilliantly named Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles. Now as if the name alone wasn't enough to prompt you to play the game, Tex Atomic's got some other things going for it as well. First off, it uses the amazing LithTech 2.5 engine and it has a vibrant and colorful visual style. Tex Atomic will also replace the conventional military framework of most mech games with a more sporting event kind of take. And since Tex Atomic is more of an extreme robot sports fighting title, the game will take more of a casual approach than more hardcore mech sims.

But apart from the game content, Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles is a turning point for the industry. The game will only be available via download. There won't be any copies available for sale in any retail stores and you can't buy a boxed copy off the web either. According to Jason Hall, CEO of Monolith, the game marks the "first push into producing a high quality title specifically for electronic software distribution" or ESD. To be sure, there have been other games distributed online: Hunt for the Red Baron from Fiendish Games for one. But Monolith is the first major game studio to "embrace the ESD" says Jason Hall. And without having to pay for duplication, distribution or shelf space, Monolith can pass the savings along to you -- the game will sell for under $20 online.

IGNPC: First off, that's a fantastic title. Where did it come from and what is supposed to let us know about the nature of the game? And who is this Tex anyway?

Matt Norton: Thanks, we're rather fond of the title as well. Our Lead Artist (Matt Allen) and Concept Artist (Eric Kohler) came up with the name and character of Tex Atomic. We needed an announcer personality for the game and the idea of an over-the-top kind of good ol' boy sort of sprang up. Then Eric created a face for us to attach the name to and Tex was born. As the game has grown, so has Tex's personality.

In a nutshell, Tex combines the most entertaining (we hope ;) parts of a sports-announcer, circus-ringmaster, and used car salesman. Think Smash-TV¿ with a Texas twang and you've probably got it.

IGNPC: What's the background of the game and the context of the player's experience? Is there more of a mercenary, military or sports league emphasis on the conflict?

Matt Norton: This background for the game is that of a sporting event. You might think of it as Professional Wrestlers driving Monster Trucks through American Gladiators-style events-with the addition of huge Bots and Big Badass Guns.

IGNPC: It sounds like the game has more of a demolition derby or gladiatorial combat slant than the more organized military actions of Mechwarrior. Why have you taken the arena combat approach?

Matt Norton: Part of the reason is that we feel that the military-mecha genre has been used for a lot of games and we wanted to try a different approach. Also the tone of military-games tends to be pretty dark and we wanted to use a lighter, more action-focused style of play.

IGNPC: The heart and soul of Mecha games is customization and outfitting. What sort of choices will players have in terms of components and modifications?

Matt Norton: All of the choices that the player makes influence the overall performance of their Bot. This gives the potential for a high tinker-factor (as you pointed out-a requirement for any Mecha game :) for those players that want to create a Bot that intimately fits their own style of play. However, for players that just want to dive in and start blasting, we've included a number of pre-built Bots to use.

These are some of the options the player can select:

Nine different Bot Chassis (comprised of three different types of Bot construction and four weight classes).

Ten Weapons (including guns, grenades, missiles, and beam weapons)

A wide variety of different shield, jump jet, speed, and recharge options-via the powerplant selection.

Over 50 custom skins for the Bots-for maximum player personalization.

In addition, we've designed the game to allow future downloads of new components, weapons, and arenas.

There are no killer-combinations of components-though there are certainly some combinations that are more effective than others. The best components are the ones that match your style of play-do you like to stand back and snipe or would you rather get up close and personal before blasting away?

IGNPC: Is there an economic or salvaging aspect to the game? How does the player acquire new parts for his or her bot?

Matt Norton: We're working on several Campaign games that allow the player to rise through the ranks of Bot pilots by fighting a pre-determined series of Bouts against progressively tougher foes.

However, there is no economic portion to the game. We want players to be able to dive right into competition against one another by virtue of their piloting and Bot-building skills rather than their skill at scrounging spare parts from the arena floor.

IGNPC: Big battling robots are made for mutliplayer. What game types can players expect?

Matt Norton: Currently we have four different game modes planned. Deathmatch (of course), Atomic BattleBall, Tex Atomic's Space Race, and Galactic Domination. You'll have to stay tuned to learn the particulars about each game.

IGNPC: We've been told that this game is a little more "mass market" than other Mecha games. How exactly does this game fit into the market?

Matt Norton: One of primary objectives for this game was to make it very easy to learn and intuitive to play.

I think the best games are ones that you can pick up and play without reading a manual, or learning 30+ keyboard commands, but that also have enough depth and subtlety to allow you to keep improving your skill with them. Bots fits into this mold. It's easy to learn the basics, but there are enough subtleties to play, particularly in the way the various Bot components work together, to keep players searching for their own personal best Bot combo.

IGNPC: What advantages do you feel the LithTech engine offers for this game?

Matt Norton: I'll let Jim Boer, our Lead Engineer, field that one.

Jim Boer: We began development of the game with Lithtech 2.0, and starting with a stable, fully-featured engine has influenced the project cycle dramatically. For instance, we had a fully networked game by the second month into the project, which is almost unheard of. Using the Lithtech engine has allowed us to focus much more on content and gameplay, instead of spending years developing a custom engine first.

Additionally, the LithTech engine offers:

Animation blending

(Very) High poly models

RealAudio and RealVideo support

A Very small download footprint

IGNPC: Are there any games (or cartoons, films, etc.) that really influenced the design of Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles?

Matt Norton: We picked over Virtual-On for some good ideas, particularly the speed of play. Originally we though that we'd have a game with these enormous juggernauts methodically pounding away at one-another. But after playing Virtual-On for a few marathon sessions, very early in our development cycle, we decided to speed up our gameplay -- and it's been a heck of a lot of fun to play every since.

Also, for the movement, I'd have to say that we've been influenced by some of the more dramatic Mecha Anime. Our Bots run, jump, slide, and fly more like Anime Mecha than plodding Mechwarrior Mechs. Not that there's anything wrong with Mechwarrior-style Bot movement, we just have a very different style of game.

IGNPC: You're close to finishing the game. What remains to be done before release?

Matt Norton: We still need to add some special effects art, some additional level design, more sound effects, and a LOT of playtest. I can write specs all day long, but what really lets us know if a feature is fun or not is PLAYING it! Play it, play it, play it -- there is no substitute. The whole team is really great about sharing, and accepting, ideas on what we can tweak to make Bots even more fun.

IGNPC: You've come to this project from Icewind Dale. What's the biggest adjustment you've had to make in designing this game?

Matt Norton: Well, as you might imagine, there's not a whole lot in common with Icewind Dale, but prior to that I worked on Fallout 2, and there was a lot of pseudo-technology based weapon vs. armor system development on that. Also, even while I was working on CRPGs I'd play FPS games to relax. Nothing eases production pressures better than gibbing your team-mates. ;)

Also, the Bots team has a vast pool of FPS game experience and this is very definitely a team-project. There is no part of the design that's off-limits to comment or modification. Therefore, the gameplay benefits from thousands of hours of experience in creating FPS games. You can't beat that.